WASHINGTON (AP) – Following a case of persecution rooted in emotional, violent images from the siege of the Capitol, Donald Trump’s indictment on Friday shifts to defense attorneys willing to make a fundamental concession: the violence was just as traumatic, unacceptable and illegal as the Democrats say.
But, they will say, Trump did not order it.
Acknowledging the horrors of January Day is meant to dull the complex impact of the House Democrats’ case and quickly turn to what Trump’s defenders see as the core – and more lucrative – issue of the trial: Whether Trump is responsible can be held for inciting the deadly riot on January 6.
The argument is likely to appeal to Republican senators who want to be considered violent, but without convicting the president.
“They did not commit it to Trump in any way,” David Schoen, one of the president’s lawyers, told reporters at the end of two full days of Democrats’ arguments.
He previewed the essence of his argument on Tuesday and told Senate jurors: ‘They do not have to show you films to show that the riot took place here. We will determine that it happened, and you know all about it. ”
Trump’s lawyers this week made clear in both legal reports and arguments that the people responsible for the riots are those who have indeed stormed the building and are now being prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
In anticipation of defense efforts to disrupt Trump’s rhetoric of the rioters’ actions, prosecutors have been trying for days to merge with a reconstruction of never-before-seen video footage along with excerpts from the president’s month-long request for his supporters to undo the election results.
Democrats, who closed their case Thursday, used the rioters’ own videos and words from Jan. 6 to try to hold Trump accountable. “We were invited here,” said one Capitol intruder. “Trump sent us,” another said. “He will be happy. We are fighting for Trump. ”
Prosecutors’ goal was not to incite Trump as a spectator, but rather as an “incentive” that spread the lies of the election. Then they encouraged supporters to come and challenge the results in Washington and fueled the dissatisfaction with rhetoric about the struggle and the recapture of the country.
The Democrats also demand that he not hold future federal office.
“This attack would never have taken place, but only for Donald Trump,” he said. Madeleine Dean, one of the indictment managers, said Thursday when she choked on emotion. “And so they came, draped in Trump’s flag, and used our flag, the American flag, to loot and blow.”
Although the accusation of a president is intended, this historic second trial of Trump could be put to a vote by this weekend, especially since Trump’s lawyers have focused on legal, rather than emotional or historical questions and hope to get it all. . as fast as possible behind him.
With little hope of persuasion by the required two-thirds of the Senate, the Democrats presented a graphic case to the American public, in which the terror on that day was described in stark, personal terms – some of it in the Senate Hall where senators sit as a jury member. They used a security video of rioters threateningly looking for House President Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, storming the building and waging bloody hand-to-hand fighting with police.
They displayed the many public and explicit instructions Trump gave to his supporters – long before the White House rally that sparked the deadly attack on the Capitol when Congress confirmed the victory of Democrat Joe Biden. Five people die in the chaos and its aftermath.
“What makes you think the nightmare with Donald Trump and his law-breaking and violent crowd is over?” asks representative Jamie Raskin, D-Md., The Chief Prosecutor. He said earlier: “When Donald Trump, as on January 6, said to the crowd, ‘Fight like hell, otherwise you will not have a country anymore’, he means they will ‘fight like hell’. “
In the White House, Biden said he believes “some thoughts may change” after senators saw the security video, although he had earlier acknowledged that conviction was unlikely. By Thursday, there were many people willing to go on.
‘I thought today was actually very repetitive. I mean, not much new. “I was really disappointed that they did not care much about the legal standards,” said Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri.
Several Republican senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, consulted with Trump’s attorneys on Thursday. Cruz told reporters that the senators were discussing legal strategy – something that would never be permissible in a criminal case. There is no rule against Senate jurors cooperating with attorneys in an indictment, although Democrats can use it to raise questions about impartiality.
The presentation by Trump’s lawyers is in one sense a low risk given the likelihood of acquittal. But it is also being closely watched due to an uneven display on Tuesday when one defense lawyer, Bruce Castor, made such convoluted arguments that Trump raged from his home in Florida.
They are expected to highlight different parts of the same speech that prosecutors focused on when Trump told supporters gathered at the Ellipse outside the White House to ‘fight like hell’.
They will claim that in the same speech, Trump encouraged the crowd to act ‘peacefully’ and that his remarks – and his general distrust of the election results – are protected under the First Amendment. Democrats strongly oppose the claim, saying his words were not political speech, but rather amounted to direct incitement to violence.
Defense attorneys are also likely to return to arguments made Tuesday that the trial itself is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office. The Senate rejected the fight Tuesday because it voted to proceed with the trial, but Republican senators have nonetheless indicated that they are still interested in the argument.
By Thursday, senators who had a second full day of arguments appeared slightly tired, bent over in their chairs, crossed their arms and stretched out.
One Republican, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, said during a break: “To me, they lose credibility the longer they talk.”
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said the January 6 facts, while “unpatriotic” and even “treasonous,” were not his biggest concern. On the contrary, he said on Thursday, an indictment for someone who is no longer in office “sets a very dangerous precedent.”